--- Brad Templeton <brad+myth at templetons.com> wrote:
[snip]
> Impressive? So you are recording in mjpeg I
> presume? I assume that
> 352 x 480, which is what the Tivo and many others
> record at, is not
> within the power of this system to record? If you
> could play it back you
> would have a nifty frontend, though.
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>
Honestly, I just haven't tried 352x480 so I don't
know. I suspect that is beyond its ability to record
AND playback but I'll give it a shot and see.
I have been using the default MythTV format for bttv
cards which I believe is RTJPEG in a modified NUV
wrapper. The lowrider box works just great as a
server too as I can see the files on the samba network
and they play fine on the WinXP machine upstairs.
Storage space is a serious issue though. I have only
8GB of storage total of that 2.7 GB for video. That
translates into about an hour of RTJPEG at 320x240.
Transcoding to MPEG4 is not a serious option as I am
not going to wait several days for a 1 hour show to
transcode. I am considering swapping lowrider with a
Win98 box sitting right next to it that has a 30 GB HD
it is not really using all that much space.
Well, I have been experimenting quite a bit and
haven't really found the limits of its ability to
record yet. 256x192 was a bit coarse but I was happy
with 320x240. I will try some higher resolution
modes. I think 352x480 is half D1 right?
It would be awesome if it could do that. To be useful
though its got to be able to play it back not just
record. Really, I was amazed at how good 320x240
really looks though. I'll give that a shot and see
how half D1 works. When I piped in video over the LAN
from the main MythTV box 320x240 looked absolutely
incredible frame quality but was so choppy as to be
useless.
I think it would be great if old PCs could be
converted into PVRs rather than tossing them in
landfills or third world toxic waste dumps. That is
such a waste. I regularly see cheap TV tuners for $20
or less. Add one to an old PC + free/open source
software and presto cheap PVR!
Thanks!
Andrew Lynch